So, how light can a Kimber Hunter be? A build thread.

[ChrisAU]

FINALLY! And on a dandy of a buck! Dropped him in his tracks at 45 yards, full pass through both front shoulders on an unusually big bodied deer. Run down from the rut and was 208 lbs hanging. The exit had bone pulled through it, guess the 225 TTSX at 45 yards has some oomph even from a 16.5” barrel ha!

 

[Trackselk]

FINALLY! And on a dandy of a buck! Dropped him in his tracks at 45 yards, full pass through both front shoulders on an unusually big bodied deer. Run down from the rut and was 208 lbs hanging. The exit had bone pulled through it, guess the 225 TTSX at 45 yards has some oomph even from a 16.5” barrel ha!

Congrats on a nice buck! I need to hunt more in the winter...

 

[Trackselk]

My barrel is 19", but looks like it would still be a pretty minimal gain- thanks!

^^ yes .308, but have a new Hunter in .243 too

Oh, I forgot to mention those weights are for an 18" barrel.
And to your ascent bolt question, I asked kimber about a year ago. Nope, not a chance. Now, if you sent them an ascent without the bolt because you 'lost' it, then it looks like they'd cooperate. But, the good news is that kampfeld now offers the same design, so no need!

 

[mtwarden]

@ChrisAU Nice work!!!

Oh, I forgot to mention those weights are for an 18" barrel.
And to your ascent bolt question, I asked kimber about a year ago. Nope, not a chance. Now, if you sent them an ascent without the bolt because you 'lost' it, then it looks like they'd cooperate. But, the good news is that kampfeld now offers the same design, so no need!

I didn't know that, for a long time they didn't want to do any controlled feeds- good news

 

[mahonsr]

@ChrisAU nice deer! and it’s fun getting in close like that. The description reads like a bow hunt

 

[Grumman]

FINALLY! And on a dandy of a buck! Dropped him in his tracks at 45 yards, full pass through both front shoulders on an unusually big bodied deer. Run down from the rut and was 208 lbs hanging. The exit had bone pulled through it, guess the 225 TTSX at 45 yards has some oomph even from a 16.5” barrel ha!

View attachment 659934

View attachment 659935

Is that a lower Alabama deer? It’s a brute congrats!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ChrisAU]

Is that a lower Alabama deer? It’s a brute congrats!


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It is, about 20 miles from Georgia and 35 miles from Florida.

 

[roosiebull]

Oh, I forgot to mention those weights are for an 18" barrel.
And to your ascent bolt question, I asked kimber about a year ago. Nope, not a chance. Now, if you sent them an ascent without the bolt because you 'lost' it, then it looks like they'd cooperate. But, the good news is that kampfeld now offers the same design, so no need!

You could put some Mylar type bladder in the stock and fill it with helium, instead of a sling, you’ll need a wrist tether so it doesn’t float away

 

[mtwarden]

You could put some Mylar type bladder in the stock and fill it with helium, instead of a sling, you’ll need a wrist tether so it doesn’t float away

^ my buddy purchased a S&W 637 Airlight (9 shot .22, 2" barrel) at a gun show; the S&W guy had it (unloaded) tied to a string and a helium balloon- just floating I admired that revolver for years and one day out of the blue he said he'd sell it to me- feels like a cap gun

 

[Trackselk]

^ my buddy purchased a S&W 637 Airlight (9 shot .22, 2" barrel) at a gun show; the S&W guy had it (unloaded) tied to a string and a helium balloon- just floating I admired that revolver for years and one day out of the blue he said he'd sell it to me- feels like a cap gun

I had 2 of those, they both spit lead right next to my eye every shot! Sold em both and use my sr22 longslide instead. I can't be worrying about eye protection when I'm plinking a grouse occasionally in the backcountry...

 

[Trackselk]

More cheese:

This was a lot of work for .4 oz, and I'm lucky I didn't ruin the mag. Not recommended. I could have shaved .1 more pretty easily but I was tired of messing with it. The steel insert is ridiculously tough for this application. Not sure what they were thinking...
Forgot to add that there was a lot of finish work to make this thing function. The small sized dremel was invaluable!

 

[mtwarden]

I had 2 of those, they both spit lead right next to my eye every shot! Sold em both and use my sr22 longslide instead. I can't be worrying about eye protection when I'm plinking a grouse occasionally in the backcountry...

I must have gotten a good one or you got two bad ones. I’ve killed a couple of dozen grouse (and probably close to the same number of snowshoes)

No spitting

That looks like a lot of work on the magazine!

 

[Trackselk]

I must have gotten a good one or you got two bad ones. I’ve killed a couple of dozen grouse (and probably close to the same number of snowshoes)

No spitting

That looks like a lot of work on the magazine!

Nice, I was disappointed with the ease of corrosion on the hammer also. But, I guess some cerakote would mostly solve that. Mine would rust quickly in field conditions, Needed oiled every few days. That was moist pocket conditions, if they hadn't spit lead, I would have sent it to Karl for some cerakote. They were amazingly light! My sr22 is 17oz, and super quiet with cci quiets, and great for grouse. Just have to manually cycle the slide (with the subsonics)...

 

[mtwarden]

^ that's pretty light; my 317 is the 2"one- have to be pretty close to kill anything with, but manage to hit some stuff

 

[Trackselk]

^ that's pretty light; my 317 is the 2"one- have to be pretty close to kill anything with, but manage to hit some stuff

Yeah, I remember now. Heading down the ridge in the evening and I'd have the blue grouse opportunities, but I'd have to potentially spoil the hunt digging in my pack for my sunnies. I took one grouse with it, and then just decided the repeater (sr22) could do double duty better. If a hungry blackbear comes sniffing around my tent at night I'm pretty sure 10 Stingers to the face will change its mind. Definitely don't want to need eye pro then lol. I have a love hate relationship with revolvers due to the fact that more than a couple of people have lost an eye to their lead spitting over the centuries. If a person wears corrective glasses then that solves 99% of the problem. FWIW

 

[jpndave]

FWIW a spitting revolver has something wrong with it. Cylinder timing, excessive Cylinder to barrel clearance and forcing cone are possible fixes. A properly fitted and operating revolver should have no spitting and very minimal side blast cylinder to barrel.

 

[mtwarden]

Yup- I came into the law enforcement field when semi's weren't in and everyone (damn near everyone anyways) carried revolvers. I've owned (and was issued) probably two dozen revolvers (all S&W) and never had any issues. I was also our firearms instructor for a couple of decades and when we were carrying revolvers, I don't recall of anyone having that issue.

It's very possible the little 317 w/ nine in the cylinder is more prone to this issue than a 6 shot???, not sure- but no spitting with mine and it's had a lot of rounds through it- ditto on the thousands of rds in other revolvers I've carried.

But back to the Kimber!

@Trackselk do you still have an Ascent barrel around by chance? I'm thinking of sending my Hunters into LRI and have them flute them, but would like it to closely mimic the factory Ascent barrel.

Number of flutes, width and depth of flutes and have the flutes start and end roughly where the Ascent flutes are (in relation to the action to end of the barrel)

If not, I'll post another thread to see if I can those measurements.

Thanks

 

[jpndave]

Oh, I forgot to mention those weights are for an 18" barrel.
And to your ascent bolt question, I asked kimber about a year ago. Nope, not a chance. Now, if you sent them an ascent without the bolt because you 'lost' it, then it looks like they'd cooperate. But, the good news is that kampfeld now offers the same design, so no need!

@ChrisAU Nice work!!!



I didn't know that, for a long time they didn't want to do any controlled feeds- good news

I'd like to flute my bolt with the "wrought iron" pattern similar to what @ChrisAU has on his barrel. Has anyone gotten theirs done by Kampfeld or LRI? For what LRI is showing costwise I don't know that it is worth me trying to fixture it here to get it done on my machine. I have an idea of how to deal with the ejector that I think may work well similar to what my Coup de grâce action has. I have replaced one rifle with the long extractor to allow more fluting on the bolt without having that become an issue.

Does anyone have an ascent bolt they could post pictures of on all sides? I'm particularly interested in the back where the ejector rides. And how does the fluting feel running over a full magazine of cartridges? It would seem straight flutes might chatter over a full magazine and the spiral might be that way cycling forward and backward. What is the opinion on that for those that have the fluted bolts?

 

[mtwarden]

+1 on the Ascent flute details- someone mentioned that LRI can do it, but haven't see anyone who has

 

[h2so4]

@jpndave @mtwarden would a Adirondack bolt work for pictures?